Nordic Reach

News

The Colors of Scandinavia

Most of the countries in Europe's north are facing new pressures on societies by sometimes staggering rates of immigration. It's not the first time in history, and we haven't seen the end of the changes this will bring. The Intize project in this issue has become one of our favorite sunshine stories. Once we open our doors, we have to open our arms as well - supposedly an American tradition we should be very careful to preserve. Scandinavians were always green. Nature has always played a cent...

Complaints Choirs

In each city, the couple uses leaflets and local press articles to recruit singers, who all contribute their own complaints. These are woven into a song which is rehearsed and then performed by the group in locations around the city, creating a film several minutes long. It is essential to the concept that the complaints are written by the singers themselves, so each song is specific to its city. In Helsinki the choir sang that "tram number 3 smells of pee" and that they didn't like their nei...

Intize - Political Correctness at a Time of Change

"It's about changing perspective. Math isn't about right and wrong. In school the focus tends to be on results, but it's not like that. Math is not a spectator sport. To become good at math isn't an end in itself, it's more about improving one's capacity for logic and creating better conditions. We offer the students personal support; we help make the students visible. If they don't show up, then we'll call to see how they're doing. It means more than you'd think," [Farid Nolen] says. "I don'...

[Still] Not Politics As Usual

"Too often the notion in the past was about one-time fixes," she says. "[The idea was], 'if I kick the can down the road, I won't be here to have to clean it up/ This time we said 'none of that' - we have got to get this done." As a result, state lawmakers had to face "the toughest vote of their political careers," she adds. "Their unwillingness took us right up to the deadline." And beyond it - by six hours. But [Jennifer M Granholm] held firm, and she prevailed. Now, as Michigan begins a ne...

Our Man From the Bronx

[Brian Andersson]'s parents were of the generation that wasn't too interested in the old country. After all, their parents had left all that behind to come to the New World to become good American citizens. Those were not the days of taking pride in one's heritage; the main thing was to fit into the new society. However, all but one of Andersson's grandparents were Irish, so the one who wasn't - his father's father Henry J. Anderson - suddenly piqued his interest. Being an historically inclin...

Going for the Green: Views of a Swedish-American Business Leader

In this case, the elephants are trailing the mouse; both Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds have picked up on not just the concept of moist snuff or "snus," which is the original Swedish word for this, but adopted the name itself. RJ Reynolds launched "Camel Snus" and Philip Morris "Marlboro Snus" in 2006 and 2007. Snus is the Swedish term for moist snuff - a minor part of the global tobacco business "owned" by Swedish Match, which for good reason holds a market leader position in the segment. Who...

Celebrating 35 Years of Svea

Apart from enjoying Swedish traditions like Lucia and Valborg, having dinners and inviting exciting Speakers, the ladies of Svea were also the ones who jumpstarted the children's activities at the Swedish Church in New York (something many Swedish parents are thankful for), and they also Sponsor the annual Christmas Crafts for the little ones at Scandinavia House. Nordic Reach met with six of Svea's members over a glass of white wine on a sunny early summer afternoon. Why did you start [Svea]...

Nordic Infusion On Orchard Street

This is the waterhole of choice for a mixed crowd of locals and hipsters, Leonardo DiCaprio included. And with a menu boasting lime and chili blackened salmon cubes, lavender flower cured lamb loin, Swedish meatballs, and saffron ice cream - not to mention an impressive beer selection - a trip down to New York's Lower East Side will be well worth the effort. Stockholm-born proprietor Annika Sundvik says her idea behind the restaurant is "no stiffness, space between the tables and a purer kind...

What Where When Who

In the early 1970s, a Swedish engineer named Håkan Lans invented a tool for facilitating personal computer workflow. The device, which he called the "digitizer" was a point-and-click tool that connected to a machine's regular keyboard outlet. The invention never took off then, Lans didn't even take out a patent, but a few years later, Stephen Jobs and colleagues introduced the world to the computer mouse. Much has happened since, it's taken different forms, shapes and colors, it even became i...

A Finer Dawn

"New York," says [Sarah Dawn Finer], "is my muse." "It's something I've always done..." Finer explains. "...I mean since I was like six years old and got a part in a TV-show. I've been performing ever since." Still no record deals were made, and finally Finer assumed firm command of her own career and released her music on her own: The EP Sarah Dawn Finer came out in 2005. Although continuously bubbling under the music radar, Finer didn't have her breakthrough until the spring of 2007, when s...

Culture Shock

A Throwback to Glamour Days

Surprisingly, given the South American sexiness of her designs, [Minna Parikka] isn't a particular fan of tango, as so many Finns are, but recalls her mother setting a glamorous example. "She'd be wearing red nails and lipstick even when she was changing my nappies." A pair of red patent Mary Janes kick-started her love of shoes when she was five, but it wasn't until her elder sister, a photojournalist, interviewed a shoe designer, that 15-year-old Minna realized such a wondrous job existed. ...

Anne Kyyrö Quinn

"My starting point is to explore the fabric's structure," [Anne Kyyr]ö [BRADLEY QUINN] explained, "to test how well it holds its shape, see whether or not it frays, and watch how the fibers react to handling." Perhaps it was these factors that led her to felt, which Kyyrö Quinn describes as a 'miracle material.' "Felt is environmentally-friendly, tactile, soft, durable and easy to work with," Kyyrö Quinn explained. "Refined lengths of felt work just like other interior textiles, and even out-...